Reality

Sometimes you wake up in the morning, never knowing where you will be by evening.

This became very evident this weekend.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. First, a house addition update.

On Monday, my sister came to help me paint. Because of her help, I finished the trim painting on Wednesday.


One Friday, our construction crew came and installed the trim. I love the finished result.


Sometimes it is the little things, like finally installing the door hardware, that are appreciated the most.


Ed spent his evenings working on the brick in front of the house. I don't have any photos of him working since I took the children to Bible school every evening. Ed was able to work uninterrupted and I was pleased at his progress.

On Saturday, we decided to take some time off to do some fun things with the children. Sometimes it feels like our lives have been consumed by work. We went to watch some radio controlled airplanes for a while in the morning, worked in the garden a little, then packed up our camping gear. Ed was helping with the chores at my parent's dairy farm this weekend. We thought we'd camp out at the little cabin in their woods.

After the evening milking, we joined my parents at a community picnic. Ed had just sat down with his plateful of food when his cell phone rang. It was one of those calls where time sits still and you think you have to be in a nightmare that you will wake up from soon.

Ed's brother-in-law Jason was also spending some time with his children on Saturday. They were playing in a small river near their house. The river is very shallow but unknown to them, there was a drop off where the water was 12 feet deep with a strong undercurrent. The children got into this current and were struggling. Jason went in to help his teenage daughter. All the children got safely to the bank, but Jason drowned.

Within an hour after the phone call, we had left the children with my parents (at least we had their pajamas, toothbrushes and Sunday clothes since we planned to camp there) and headed to North Carolina to be with Ed's sister Jean. It doesn't seem that long ago since Ed's dad's sudden death when we waited in the hospital for Jean and Jason to join us. We arrived at Jean's home in the wee hours of the morning. Sunday was spent planning the funeral and crying together as a family.

At this point I feel numb and emotionally spent. I know God is good and has all things within His control, but I still can't help but ask the questions. There is such a need for Godly men in our world. Why take a man who was so faithfully serving the Lord? A man loved and needed by his family?


The above photo is Jason, Jean, and their family when we visited them at their home last summer.

The reality is that everything on this earth is temporal. The homes we enjoy will not stand forever. The people we love will some day die. Our time here on earth is brief and fleeting.

I wonder if my heart is set too strongly on earth. I love making a home and enjoying our garden. But if Jason could talk to us today from the glories of heaven and the presence of God, I'm sure he would encourage us to release our grasp on this world.

Today we are frantically trying to finish up our work so we can head back to North Carolina for the viewing and funeral. I plan to take a break from blogging for the rest of the week. If you have emailed me recently, I apologize that it may be a while until I respond.

Go hug your children and husband. Look around at your lovely home. Thank God for it, realize that it will all be burned up, and heaven is more wonderful than you can imagine.